A transflective electrowetting display is disclosed in international patent application WO2006/017129. This known display includes electrowetting elements having a partially, uniformly transmissive layer arranged on the second support plate. In a first mode the layer reflects ambient light incident from the viewing side and in a second mode it transmits light incident from the rear side. Each electrowetting element comprises a transparent liquid and a black or coloured liquid. The position of the latter liquid in the electrowetting element can be controlled to transmit or absorb light.
A disadvantage of the known transflective display is that the partially transmissive layer requires a special step in the manufacturing process and is therefore relatively expensive to make. Furthermore, the optical performance in the various modes depends on the values of the transmission and reflection coefficient of the layer and their spectral dependence, which will be affected strongly by variations in thickness. As a result, this manufacturing step will be a very yield sensitive step.
It is an object of the invention to provide a transflective display device which is cheaper to manufacture.